While there are those out there for whom making money is almost second nature, I am not one of them.  I admit that freely.  It is this deficiency that has challenged me the most while playing the newest game from Rusty Axe, Big$hot (herein referred to as BigShot because I hate it when people substitute symbols for letters).  At first I thought I would be in for an experience akin to that of games like Flip or Flop and Build-a-Lot.  But I soon realized that it takes some business savvy to make your way successfully through this big-business simulation, and not just an eye for property improvement.

You start the game with money to invest in a business.  Laid out in front of you is the city, shown in an isometric view.  Each available business will have a small “For Sale” sign bouncing over it.  Choose one, and the game begins.  Once you own a business, there are three basic things that you can do to increase revenues.  You can improve the efficiency of the business, you can improve the quality of the business, and you can improve the traffic.  Improving efficiency is cheaper than improving quality, but doesn’t bring as much improvement to revenue as quality does generally.  Improving traffic involves using different advertising methods to get more people in your doors.  Some work better for a start-up, while others are better for an established business.  Just remember, each decision you make costs you precious dollars.  The revenue that you generate by the end of the month will be used to pay the bills that have accumulated over the month.  If you are in trouble, you can ignore your bills for a month or two, but eventually the creditors will put a lien on your business and you will go bankrupt.

As you play, the other AI players will occasionally request deals of you.  Keep in mind that just because they are willing to sell you a business doesn’t mean that it doesn’t come with its own baggage.  The AI players are shrewd businessmen and women if nothing else.  At times, other businesses will come up for auction.  This is by far the best way of acquiring new businesses to manage.  Only by owning multiple businesses successfully will you be able to increase your net worth and win the game.  Unfortunately, you will have to learn most of this on your own, as the tutorial falls just short of giving you the information that you need to even moderately succeed at the game.  Not good for a casual title in my book.

The graphics are simple, if colorful.  Most of the action takes place in pop-up windows, where you see various figures and the icon representing the player that you are wheeling-and-dealing with.  While the graphical presentation could have done with a little more flair, there is nothing that distracts from the core gameplay.  The background music is an uninspired blend of tunes that hearken back to the days of Chicagoland gangsters and back-alley deals.  An odd choice, but nothing that offends the ears.  The gameplay is challenging enough to keep wannabe-moguls busy for a while, but might put off casual spenders.  Give it a try and see if you have what it takes to be a BigShot.

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Overall Rating:

(2 votes, average: 3 out of 5)

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